The Fate of Being Cursed with Fate
by Sentury
Summary: During a night sometime after the final battle with Ashera, Stefan watches one of the many duels between Ike and Mia. He expects great swordsmanship, but he also discovers many things he could have never expected about the warriors, and about himself


**This is Sentury, but I gather you're here to read my story rather my opening remarks. So read on! And enjoy! (hopefully)**

'The world is an interesting place.' Stefan thought to himself as he watched the two blades dance below him. He stood far enough away that neither of the two warriors would notice him; even if they happened a glance up at him atop his small hill. To some it may seem strange, his being drawn to this place, but Stefan knew what he was watching and how few people ever got the chance to watch something as grand as a battle between two masters of the blade. He knew that what most people thought to just be a casual and friendly duel was in actuality the beginning of a new era.

Their blades echo through the darkness once more and his eyes are drawn ever closer as the climax of the battle approaches. The woman gracefully bounces off one of her opponent's blows, using the force of each strike against him as she deflects and counters, counters and deflects. Then, the moment finally comes, the maiden is at last able to use her speed to outmaneuver her adversary and he motions his blade left, as she comes to strike right. Sensing a long overdue victory, Stefan can see her mouth curl into a smile and her lips part as if she is about to speak, but her opponent is smart as well as strong and does not panic, and instead raises his arm while simultaneously shifting his weight towards her sword. The result is her sword glancing harmlessly off the small armored portion of his arm with little more than "clang." The sudden change in momentum spells disaster for the female warrior as it is now she who is caught off guard as she stumbles momentarily backwards. Stefan smiles to himself, knowing that the battle is now over. The woman's opponent is far too skilled not to capitalize on such an opening and he can already foresee the way he will 180 and deliver a powerful blow to the abdomen that would kill any man if they weren't using training swords.

'She fought well,' Stefan thinks to himself, 'you always fight well.' Watching as Ike spins into what he had anticipated, Stefan can't help but think of what a shame it was that Mia was born a woman. She was as skilled a swordsmen he'd ever met, and an absolute terror on the battlefield, but despite all her training and hard work she will never be able to achieve Ike's sheer level of brute force strength. And with all other things equal that meant Ike would always prevail. Stefan laughs to himself as thinks what the woman would do to him if she ever heard him saying such nonsense, but it was the truth, albeit a painful one. She was as powerless to change her fate of being female, as he was to changing the brand he'd been cursed with.

However, Mia, as if in an effort to prove him wrong does something completely unpredictable. Realizing that her moment of victory has been lost, she drops her blade to the floor and uses both free arms to catch Ike's wrist as just as he is about to deliver the finishing blow. Even with both hand she lacks the strength to stop his arm completely and can only divert the path of his blow, but that's all Mia needs as she slides underneath Ike's forearm and then, with even more grace and skill, uses it to launch her up and around to deliver a kick square into the side of his face.

The blow sends Ike staggering backwards as Mia scrambles to gather her sword. She finds it and readies herself just as Ike regains his footing. The two lock eyes for a moment as they stand there with slumped arms and heavy breathing compelling the other to make a move, but both unable or unwilling to act. However, Stefan can make out, just barely through their inhales and exhales, a smile upon both their mouths. He can't understand it, not their enjoyment of the battle, but at his gross miscalculation of Mia's defeat. This conflict should be over, she was completely out-skilled and wide open for the finish and yet, there she stands; ready to clash blades once again. He thinks the maneuver over in his own circumstances. He's cut down countless opponents in his life and yet he knows that were he Ike it would have gone much the same. He would have seen that momentary opening as he has a thousand times and he would have gone for the finish on Mia, and he would have been struck with the same bruise that Ike is quickly developing along his cheekbone. It's a painful realization for a man of his ability to admit, but not as painful as his second conclusion. Because Stefan, as he continues to watch the two face off again, cannot deny the fact that if he were in Mia's shoes, he would have certainly been defeated.

'Ridiculous,' he thinks, 'no I would have thought of something. Their skill is not that fair along yet that they could defeat me in battle.' He would admit a thousand times that there would one day be a time where both Mia and Ike surpassed him with the blade, but surely that moment was not now. No, it was something that struck him more than that. It was Mia's maneuver itself. To drop one's blade in the heat of battle, to decide in a matter of microseconds to abandon all hopes of defense and create an opportunity for attack was something else altogether. It said something different. It expressed a complete lack of concern for one's own well-being, the refusal to lose or to be beaten down. He glanced at his own sword and knew shamefully, that that was something he did not possess.

The echo of their blades ring once more as they begin round two. And he sees it there again. That unshakable faith in her own abilities, that fearlessness that burns more intensely than any flame he'd ever seen before. And he sees it in the eyes of her opponent as well. He strokes the brand that mares his forehead and something dawns upon him. If Mia were not a woman she likely would not have been able to score such a blow. There was no conceivable way that Ike, in his burly nature could have ever pulled off such a graceful attack.

"So you've turned your disadvantage into an advantage then, eh Mia?" he says to no one but himself. And suddenly he is struck with another revelation, it is not the fact that Mia is a woman which prevents her from defeating Ike, no it is that Ike is driven by the same unending quest for greatness as she is. It is not a battle between a man and a woman, it is a battle between ideals, and dreams, and that thought in the back of one's mind that makes them never want to be the one to fall first.

Stefan can't help but laugh again at his foolish judgment of Mia ever since he met her in the first war. "I owe you an apology," he says, speaking as if she were standing before him, "all this time I have failed to see you for what you truly are." Mia was strong because she accepted her limitations and saw beyond them, she did not struggle against her fate, she did not even hate her fate, but rather she accepted it, and that was something to be admired, he thought. He strokes his brand again, and knows that it is something he himself has been unable to do.

He glances down at them again to see if the duel has yet come to fruition. Ike barely stands, using his sword as support to try and keep himself from falling over. Mia fares no better, sitting on one knee as she tries to gather the will power just to get to two feet, but the fight must go on. Ike is the first to muster the strength to fight as he raises his sword to deliver one last blow to end it all and once again declare him the strongest. And again, Stefan sees her eyes flare as she gathers her will to stand once more and meet his blow. He was sure she wouldn't be able to stand, and is ashamed for once again doubting her. And finally the two blades clash, with each owner pushing against the other until finally they both succumb to their fatigue and pass out before one another.

It's a draw then, Stefan thinks to himself. It is not a victory for his purple haired friend, but it is certainly more than the world would have suspected from her. And maybe that's part of Mia's battle he thinks, maybe she's not just battling against Ike, maybe she's battling against the world too. Proving to it that she is in fact a woman, but also a swordsman capable of standing next to and against the greatest the world has to offer.

Stefan gazes down at the two fallen warriors, ashamed to stand in their presence. Ashamed that he has not been willing to fight the same battle, but instead running from his fate and cursing it in the darkness as he refuses to forgive the brand marked upon his head. He taught Ike once, and he taught Mia too, but only in swordsmanship. Only in teaching how to take life, never how to live it. That was a lesson only they could teach him, and he wished learned long ago.

He raises his blade to them, still in the distance and says, "I wait atop the peak of this summit. I wait to be defeated by you." He says it to the both of them, as he can think of no prouder moment, no greater honor than surrendering his title of the strongest to either of the warriors below him; be they man, woman, or yes, even branded.

He returns the sword to its sheath as he moves to leave. Stefan is satisfied with that, in the battle he has watched and the lesson he has learned in watching it. He can honestly say he does not know which warrior will come out better than the other, but that's for them to decide not for him to predict.

They have strong hearts with a bottomless well of skill, he thinks, now if only he could get them to admit they love each other too, but that is another battle altogether. And that thought draws a smile to his lips once more.

* * *

**Okay, so now that you're finished we have a little more time to talk. I'm a huge Ike/Mia, but I also love Stefan so I thought it might be cool to see one for their battles from a third person perspective. I really hope you guys like it, and please, if it pleases you, drop me a review to let me know what to improve on or even what I did right, or if you enjoyed it, or if you hated it! (Anything helps) Anyway that's all, I hope I haven't wasted your time! Sentury out. **


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